Electric switch.



PATENTED OCT. 3l, 1905.

J. J. RUDDICK.

ELECTRIC SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 27, 190s.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN J. RUDDICK, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED STATES ELECTRIC SIGNAL. COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

ELECTRIC SWITCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 31, 1905.

Application filed November 27, 1903. Serial No. 182,783'

To LZZ whom, it may concern.-

Beit known that I, JOHN J. RUDDICK, of Newton, county of Middlesex, and State of Massachusetts,haveinvented an Improvement in Electric Switches, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

The present invention relates to an electric switch, and is embodied in a switch for railway signaling and analogous purposes, in which the contacts are operated by the Inovement of a traveling object, such as a suitable projection or engaging portion carried by a car or vehicle. Itis essential that a switch of this kind should be positive in its operation and that a good contact should be made for a sufficient length of time, whether the car which operates the switch is traveling at a high speed or not. Furthermore, it is desirable so to ar range the switch that one set of operations shall be performed when a car is traveling in one direction and a diferent set of operations when a car is traveling in the other direction, and itis important that any accidental performance of both operations in response to the operation of the same carv should be prevented. It is further desirable that the part which is operated by the traveling member, especially if the said traveling member is the trolley of an electric car, should be so arranged as to withstand the shock of a rapidly-traveling trolley and at the same time to obviate all tendency to displace the trolley from the trolley-wire. I

It is the object of this invention to obtain a switch having the necessary characteristics `which is simple in its action and positive in its operation, the construction being such that it is practically impossible to produce a wrong operation of the switch, while any accidental operation thereof is positively avoided.

The switch herein shown as embodying the invention is provided with two stationary contacts and a contact member interposed between them and arranged to coperate with one contact or the other in accordance with the direction of movement of the traveling device which operates the switch, the parts being so arranged that when in their normal position it is impossible for the intermediate contact member to make contact with either of the stationary contact members, whilethe actuating devices for said intermediate contact member are so arranged that only one can effectually operate at a time. The actuating members consist of levers pivoted some distance apart, each lever having an engaging portion arranged to be acted upon by a plate or shoe, the main surface of which extends below the trolley-wire, so as to be engaged by the flanges of the trolley-wheel, the said shoe resting loosely upon supports above the trolley-wire, so that whichever end thereof is first engaged by the trolley will be lifted prior to thelifting of the opposite end. One end of the said shoe is arranged to engage one of the actuating members and the other end thereof the other actuating member. so that whichever actuating member is first reached by the trolley will be operated, and the two members are so arranged that the one which operates first will carry the movable contact member out of the path of the other, or, in any event, ont of the position in which the other could operate thereon in its normal way, it being, therefore, impossible to make a wrong operation of the Contact member.

Figure l is a longitudinal vertical section through the casing of a switch embodying the invention shown as applied to a trolley-wire for railway signaling purposes, the mechanism being mainly shown in elevation. Fig. 2 is a top plan view, partly in section, of the switch with the inclosing cover removed; and Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. l, showing the parts in a different position.

As herein shown, the switch mechanism is mounted in a frame A in the form of an inclosing boX or case, having a detachable cover portion A2, the portion A being connected with ears A3, arranged to be secured in any suitable way to the trolley-wire A4. The stationary switch-contacts a are shown as springs mounted on blocks of insulating material o2, which are secured to a supplemental frame B, which comprises two side members connected together by cross members B2 and supported upon iianges A5, formed in the frame A, being secured to said flanges, as by screws B3. These stationary contacts are shown as electrically connected with conductors @which are secured in the cover A2 and insulated therefrom, being electrically connected with plates which when the cover A2 is in position, as shown in Figs. l and 3, are in contact with the springs a, the said contact-plates being mounted on blocks of insulating material a5,

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tion A2.

Pivotally supported between the fixed contact members c is a movable contact memberI Z1, which is arranged so that when rocked upon its pivot its outer end will come into electrical connection with one or the other of the springs a in accordance with its direction of Inovement. The said member b is normally yieldingly held in the intermediate position (shown in Fig. 1)by means of a yielding retaining de- -vice b2, shown as a weight hinged to one of the members of the frame B and having projections which rest upon laterally projecting arms b3 from the contact member This serves to prevent the member b from swinging from its normal position in consequence of jarring of the wire, it being necessary that the said contact member should stand in its normal position until positively moved away from said position in order that it may be properly acted upon by the actuating devices c. As herein' shown, the said actuating de` vices c consist of levers pivoted at c2, the pivotal supports for the levers being at some distance from each other, the two ends of the levers, however, projecting toward each other and standing below the contact member Z) and in the same position with relation to said contact member, so that either of the said llevers is capable of acting on said contact member. The said levers c are mounted in diferent planes, so as not to interfere with each other, and each is provided with an inclined lsurface c3, which is adapted to cooperate with a portion if of the member herein shown as a roller extending transverse across the lower end of said member, which is forked. If, therefore, either one of said levers o is rocked upon its pivot, so that the inclined surface c3 will come in contact with the projection b4, it will rock the member Z7, so that the other end thereof'will make contact with one or the other of the contact-pieces a in accordance with the direction in which the said member I) is rocked. To coperate with the said member b after it has been thus rocked and to prevent it from being returned to its normal intermediate position through the action of the device 62, the instrument is provided with retaining devices b5, shown as weighted arms or latches pivotally supported upon the frame B, the said latches having inf previously acted to make the contact, and` when thuspositively moved the projection l will slip out from under the inclined surface b", thus releasing the movable contact member I) and allowing it to return to its normal intermediate position through the action of the centering device b2, the weight of the roll also tending' to restore said member to a vertical position. The levers c, which are arranged to he positively moved in making the contact. are restored by a force such as that of a weight or spring, the weight of the levers being herein shown as relied upon for the purpose, and in order that a contact of sufficient duration may be obtained the levers are controlled in their restoring movement by a suitable retarding device, so that there will be a material interval of time between the upward movement of the lever,which closes the switch, and the downward movement thereof, which opens the same. As herein shown, the levers c are connected by links ci with ratchet-wheels d, loosely mounted on shafts Z2 and acted upon by pawls d3, mounted upon notched wheels olf, which notched wheels are provided with vibrating pallets d, which serve to retard the movement of said wheels. By the use of the ratchet-and-pawl connection, however, the upward movement ofthe lever c is not retarded, so that whenproperly acted upon it will travel upward rapidly to close the switch, the weight of the lever c then producing a downward movement thereof, which is transmitted to the notched wheel Z4 and retarded by the pallet di. The switch will therefore remain closed during the interval of time taken for the projection d, which is shown as connected with the arm which rotates the ratchet-wheel d, to reach the projection b4.

1n order to insure the positive operation of the actuating-levers c without dangerof breakage and without risk of throwing the trolleywheel olf the trolley-wire A4, the device is provided with a shoe c, which consists of a iianged plate loosely supported at its ends upon cross members e2, which project across from one side to the other of the frame A, the said shoe having inclined surfaces at its end which continue to a point below the trolley-wire A4, the main surface of the shoe being slotted, so as to admit of the trolley-wire passing through. As the trolley wheel T IOO comes along, therefore, the flanges thereof,

-striking the surface of the shoe `eat each side of the slot, will lift the said shoe above the wire A4, while the trolley-wheel itself remains 'on the wire, the shoe acting on the levers c members c5 are provided with transverse rods VTS or projections c, which overlie the shoe e, so that when the said shoe is lifted it will act through the rod cs, the member c5, and the spring c6 upon the lever c, thus carrying the lever which is being acted upon upward to operate the switch. The purpose of utilizing the intermediate member c5 and the springs c6 is to compensate for variations in the depth of the trolley-wheel grooves, the levers c being limited in their upward movement by the portion A5 of the frame A, and if the trolleywheel tends to move the lever further the spring c will yield, as shown in Fig. 3, so that no damage is done and no danger encountered of throwing the trolley-wheel off the wire. As a further precaution against displacement of the trolley-wheel the shoe e is provided with a downwardly-projecting iiange e3 along each side.

In the operation of the device, assuming that a car is traveling toward the right looking at Figs. 1 and 3, the trolley-wheel T will lift the left-hand end of the shoe e, tipping the same up upon the support e2 at the opposite end of said shoe, and thereby lifting the left-hand lever c before having any action upon the right-hand lever c, as best shown in Fig. 3. As soon as the inclined surface c3 of the left-hand lever c reaches the roll it will throw the contact end of the member b to the right, and the subsequent movement of the shoe e as the car continues past will throw the right-hand lever c upward to the right of the roll b4, so that even if it comesvin contact -with said roll at all it will still tend to move the contact-piece in the right direction. The said contact-piece I) upon being thrown into contact with the spring t at the right will be engaged by the retaining member b5 at the right, and the contact will thus be held closed pending the restoring movement of the lever,

c, which has produced the closing movement of the switch. Such restoring movement is retarded by the action of the pallet d5, so that a certain interval of time elapses before the roll bf is acted upon by the projection d,

this interval being suiicient to insure the op-l eration of the signal. If a car is going in the opposite direction, the other lever c will be acted upon in the same way, it being impossible in any event to make contact with the wrong member, since that end of the shoe c which is first acted upon will always be lifted first, thus producing the movement of the right lever. The projections d normally stand in the path ofthe roll b4, so that the' contact Z) cannot be rocked in either direction far enough to make contact unless one of the levers c is raised.

While the invention is shown as specially adapted for a signal in which different contacts are made by. cars going in opposite directions, it is obvious that so far as the actuating mechanism is concerned there is no essential cooperation between the mechanism which operates in response to a car going in one direction and that which operates in response to a car going in the opposite direction and that the main features of novelty in the invention are embodied in the actuating devices themselves, which are merely duplicated to operate under certain conditions. It is to be understood, therefore, that the invention is not limited to an arrangementin which the operating mechanism is duplicated, as shown and described.

As herein shown, the trolley-wire A4 constitutes part of the circuit controlled by the switch, being electrically connected with the member through the metallicframework of the device. The other members of the circuit or circuits consist of the conductors a3. The arrangement of circuits is, however, immaterial so far as relates to the present invention, which resides in the construction and mode of operation of the switch mechanism. For a better understanding of the invention, however, reference may be made to United States Letters Patent No. 678,135, for an electric signal, granted to me July 9, 1901. It may also be stated that in the construction herein shown the two contacts a are connected with separate conductors, one of which constitutes, in connection with the trolleywire, one circuit to be controlled when the car is traveling in one direction, while the other constitutes, in connection with the trolley-wire, another circuitto be controlled when the car is traveling in the opposite direction.

It is not intended to limit the invention to the specific construction herein shown and described, sinee modifications may be made without departing from the invention.

I claim- 1. In an electric switch, acontact member;

an actuating member normally held in position byayielding force as that of a spring or gravity; means independent of said actuating member but coperating with said member to move it from its normal position to operate the contact member; a retaining device for said contact member; and means connected with said actuating member for disengaging said contact member from said retaining device. p 2. In an overhead electric switch to be operated by a trolley-wheel, the combination with fixed and movable contact members; of an actuating device for the movable contact member; a shoe cooperating with said actuating device and having an inclined surface projecting below the'trolley-wire to be acted -upon by the ianges of the trolley-wheel, and supports for the ends of said shoe, upon which said shoe rests, and from which it is lifted by the trolley, as set forth.

3. In an overhead electric switch to be operated by a trolley-wheel, the combination with two fixed contacts; of a movable contact pivotally supported between said fixed IOO IIO

contacts; levers pivotally supported at opposite sides of said movable contact and projecting toward said contact to move the same when rocked on their pivots; and a shoe loosely supported at its ends above the trolley-wire, the said shoe when pressed upwardv en aging said levers and having surfaces inc ined downward at each end from a point above the trolley-wire to a point below the same7 as set forth.

4. In an electric switch, the combination with a Xed contact member; of a movable contact member pivotally supported and arranged when rocked on its pivot to be moved into contact with the fixed contact member; a lever pivotally supported and arranged when moved on its pivot to engage and move said movable contact member; a retaining device for said movable contact member; a disengaging device connected with said lever to disengage said movable contact member in the return movement of the lever; a stop tolimit the upward movement of said lever; and an actuating member yieldingly connected with said lever and adapted to be operated upon by a traveling device, as set forth. v 5. In an electric switch, the combination with two stationary contacts; of a movable contact pivotally supported between said stationary contacts; two actuating members having pivotal supports at opposite sides of said movable contact and inclined surfaces to engage and rock said movable contact on its pivot; a retaining device to hold said movable contact when it is in electrical engagement with one of the stationary contacts; a disengaging device connected with each actuating member to disengage the movable contact from its retaining device in the return movement of the actuating member; and means for retarding the movement -of the actuating member, substantiallyas described.

6. The combination with a fixed contact member; of a movable contact member; a weighted lever adapted by its upward movement to actuate said movable contact member; a retaining device for said movable contact member; a ratchet wheel connected with said lever an escape-wheel connected by a pawl with said ratchet-wheel and provided with an escapement-pallet; and a disengaging device for the movable contact member carried by said ratchet-wheel, as set forth.

7. In an electric switch, the combination with two stationary contacts; of a movable contact pivotally supported between said stationary contacts; a yielding retaining de- JOHN -J RUDDICK.

yWitnesses:

HENRY J. LIvERMoRE, JAs. J. MALONEY. 

